GW and Punny Names.

[Hive Mind]

Only because Red Dwarf got there first...

lol.

It's not like they haven't plagiarised before.

[Grailkeeper]

Lion 'el Johnson anyone?

I think puns were in there hayday in the late 90s- early 00's rather than now but they've always been there.


There's the rogue trader reference to the planet Birmingham which is "lingusitically and culturally isolated".

Fantasy includes the birdmen of Catraz and particularly tastelessly Mengil Manhide's Manflayers

The Ciaphas Cain books are full of them- There's there sororitas order from the planet Gavarrone (the Nuns of Gavatronne) The philosopher Eyor Dedonki and Sgt Wynthea Phu (named after A. A. Milne's finest) Those are the ones that spring immediately to mind.

However, the biggest offender BY FAR are the specialist games- Mad' Donna has already been mentioned- There's the lizard man blood bowl team rezephaur frogs, there was the town crier column about mordheim where the obituraries were filled with thinly veiled references to then current celebrity events and a whole host of others to numerous to list here. Those are just a few sample counts on the indictment M'lud.

[Psychosplodge]

lol.

It's not like they haven't plagiarised before.

You may say that,
I couldn't possibly comment...

[Ssyrie]

Every time I would run across Inquisitor "Torquemada" Coteaz, I would always think of this:

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oppHeMlaLVM[/url]

[eldargal]

Exactly this, if anything the punning has been reined in over the last decade, which is a bit of a shame in some ways. I do feel some of the BL literature takes itself too seriously in comparison to the codices, but this isn't a criticism so much as a difference in preferences.

Lion 'el Johnson anyone?

I think puns were in there hayday in the late 90s- early 00's rather than now but they've always been there.

[Jambo]

Could be worse, at least none of the Necrons are called Maid'en Ty-One.

lmao im making a character in my army with that name, brilliant

[Spider-pope]

Anyone else spotted this? Or any more examples? Because I'm sure it's not just Necrons, but can't remember the silly Slann fellow named after Noughts and Crosses...

That would be Tiq-Taq-To, a lingering trace of when punning at GW was at it's high point, during the late 90's when Nigel Stillman was still writing army books. Those days featured a Lizardman army book where every special character was a pun - Lord Kroak (croak), Lord Mazdamundi (Mappa mundi), Tuini-huini (Teeny weeny) etc. along with several fluff names, including my favourite Cuopacoaco (Cuppa' Cocoa).

The Bretonnian army book also featured half a dozen characters based on real life people and legends - including Warhammers own merry men, Bertrand la Brigand, Hugo la Petit and Gui le Gros.

A particular pun that stood out as a great one was in a short story published years ago in 'Inferno'. 'Paradise Lost' featuring a character named Keanu The Reaver.

The punnage has diminished massively in recent years, which is a shame since the pun is a key aspect of British humour. The Necron names don't really strike me as puns though, more like laziness and lack of imagination especially in the case of Imhotekh

[Thornblood]

I think Torquemunda's name is based on [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomás_de_Torquemada[/url] but yeah, he is a member of the Spanish Inquisition. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

I Think there was an Oqui-Qoqui (Okey kokey), Itzi-Bitzi (Itsy Bitsy) Huezigon (Wheres he gone?), Copaqetl (Copper Kettle), Grimloq the Carnosaur (after Grimlock the t-rex transformer) Slann Mage Chilipeper and Slann Mage Ulha'up (Hoola Hoop), in a lizardmen book somewhere... not forgetting the skaven ratling gun.

In 40k however we have Gabriel Angelos (Angel Gabriel), Ciaphas Cain is a pun (after Ciaphas the high preist who had it in for Jesus and Cain brother of Abel), Kharn is the arabic word for betrayer, Konrad Curze is named after Kurtz, the protagonist in Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness', which had a 20th century remake into Apocalypse now. Martin Sheen kills the Kurtz character. Curze is killed by M'shen. Curze is also Night Haunter and a general cross between a tyrannical primarch and batman. Sicarius is latin for assassin. Cassius is the name of four recognised saints a roman historian and a different cassius a roman historian, Almost everything raven guardish is derived from translations from the raven family- Corax, Corvane and Korvydae (from the latin Corvus, meaning raven), Shrike (well a shrike), Corax's final words being 'Nevermore' come from edgar alan poe's poem The Raven. The White Scars Khan after Ghenghis Khan, (Jaghatai was one of Ghenghis' sons), Lysander was a spartan general, Asmodai, Azazel, and Sammael are all fallen angels (ironically), Sanguinius (from sanguine- blood), Prospero- a particularly prosperous planet, the Valhallen guardsmen (from an iceword) is both a pun and somewhat ironic (because its hardly heavenly there).

[Gotthammer]

Blood Bowl - all of it, thought the standout most terrible one is "Bavid Deckham" or somesuch from the novels. But the novels (and Blood Bowl) are awesome so they can get away with it.

[Master Bryss]

Prospero- a particularly prosperous planet,

Not really. Prospero is the magician from Shakespeare's play 'The Tempest.' Caliban gets its name from a character from the same play (I haven't read it but I think he's deformed or monstrous in some way...).